Connect

Build Healthy Places Network

The Build Healthy Places Network catalyzes and supports collaboration across the health and community development sectors, together working to improve low-income communities and the lives of people living in them.

We achieve our mission by: Connecting leaders, practitioners, investors, and policymakers across sectors through in-person and virtual convenings; managing a clearinghouse that gathers, synthesizes and summarizes research, best practices and models that demonstrate what works at the intersection; and providing capacity-building tools and resources that highlight the health-related value of community development work and encouraging measurement of health-related impact.

Program Director(s)

Program Site

Projects

Healthy Communities Literature and Case Study Scan

Funded by The Colorado Health Foundation, this healthy communities literature and case study scan is to understand how municipalities, nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations are working to make communities healthier places for their residents.

Multisector Leaders for Health

Build Healthy Places Network will serve as a strategic partner and support the National Collaborative for Health Equity and CommonHealth Action in the development and implementation of a national Multi-sector Leaders for Health program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Here's How We're Making a Difference

Fostering Connections Between Community Development and Public Health

How can Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) work with local residents and health practitioners to advance health equity?

The Joining Forces Planning Grant is helping to answer that question by bringing together community residents, the health and development sectors, local businesses and others to improve health and wellness. Provided through PHI's Build Healthy Places Network and funded by the Kresge Foundation, the project supports partnerships between BUILD Health Challenge grantees and regional and national CDFIs. Working closely with the grantees, the Build Healthy Places Network helped to facilitate and foster of actionable partnerships between BUILD grantees and CDFIs and promote effective cross-sector collaborations to improve communities. “I have learned so much more about community development financial institutions (CDFI), the community development space, financing, and governance structure in the last few months from having these conversations. It has been incredibly informative," said one grant participant.

Learn more about the BUILD Joining Forces Grantees:

In Springfield, MA, health and CDFI partners are working to bring in a new grocery store to improve food access and economic opportunity.

Lessons learned from Harris County, TX: See three ways that joining forces with CDFIs can help to advance nutrition equity.

Harnessing Data to Drive Change

PHI’s Build Healthy Places Network catalyzes and supports collaboration across the health and community development sectors to improve health in low-income communities. MeasureUp, a microsite of resources and tools curated by the Build Healthy Places Network, helps practitioners make the case for the impact of neighborhood investments on community health and well-being—without having to become an economist.

New Tools for Promoting Economic Mobility and Improved Health Outcomes.

In North Carolina, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond brought together financial institutions, public health departments, health systems and hospitals to create "data dashboards" that connect physical and financial health for each of the state's 100 counties.

You might not think of health when you think of the Federal Reserve—but maybe you should. The root causes of poor health and poverty are often the same, and now regional Federal Reserve Banks play a critical role in convening stakeholders, supporting cross-sector solutions that promote economic mobility, and improving health.

The Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) site, launched n 2017 by PHI's Build Healthy Places Network, lifts up the efforts of these regional banks. Three new resources—a meeting directory, the “conference-in-a-box” tool, and the HCI blog series—spotlight each Federal Reserve Bank and the promising cross-sector initiatives taking place in their region.